


touch me (touch me like you wanna do)

by reeby10



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: First Kiss, Harry Wells is emotionally stunted, M/M, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-30 02:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15087035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: Harry doesn't like it when Cisco touches him. Really, he doesn't.





	touch me (touch me like you wanna do)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Terrie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Terrie/gifts).



> DCCW Rarepair Swap gift for Terrie! I hope you enjoy :D
> 
> Title from Touch Me by Avicii.

The first time Cisco touched him out of friendship rather than anger or annoyance, it felt like a hundred thousand volts of electricity making their way through his body, tingling in every nerve. The touch — just a hand on a shoulder in the middle of a tense situation, probably not even something Cisco himself realized he was doing — stuck with Harry through the rest of the day.

He could feel the warmth of Cisco’s skin even after it was gone, could feel the pressure of it like Cisco’s hand had never left. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. Worse, he couldn’t stop craving more. He tried to cover up his distraction by working on the current meta problem, by throwing himself head first into building the two pronged electromagnetic discharger they needed.

Eventually he managed to forget how it felt to have Cisco touching him, and he went on with life. Until the next time it happened, and the next. After the first time, Cisco seemed to have decided that it was ok to touch Harry whenever he liked, out of distraction or on purpose. And it was driving Harry slowly insane.

The next time it happened was while they were working late in the lab, just the two of them left there after everyone else had headed home an hour or so ago. Cisco came up behind Harry’s chair to get a look at the wires he was soldering. He leaned one arm on Harry’s shoulder to get a better view, like it was nothing, and that was it.

“Can you stop that?” Harry asked through gritted teeth. He could feel his muscles tensing up and he wanted nothing but to get out of the room and away from Cisco as soon as possible because it was just _too much_.

Cisco turned to him, their faces far too close since he hadn’t moved otherwise, and frowned. “Stop what?” he asked, sounding bewildered. “I’m not doing anything!”

Harry shrugged his shoulder, stomach dropping a little when it just made Cisco’s arm brush against his neck as well as his shoulder, the contact sparking in his mind. “That!”

“What’s wrong with my arm?” Cisco said, voice dropping quickly from bewildered to hurt.

Harry couldn’t hold back the sigh of relief when he moved back, putting space between them, and that just made Cisco’s frown grow. He told himself firmly that he didn’t feel bad about that. He didn’t. Because there was no reason for him to feel bad about putting that look on Cisco’s face. Really.

“It was _touching_ me. It needed to… not,” he replied. There were a lot more words he could say about how Cisco needed to respect his personal boundaries and stay out of his bubble, but for some reason he couldn’t get them out. Maybe because Cisco had only moved a few inches away and Harry was still all too conscious of the heat of his body.

Cisco let out a giggle that quickly transformed into a full blown laugh until he was bent over, one hand on the table, trying to control himself. Harry just crossed his arms, glaring full force. Annoyance was bubbling up in him, but something like embarrassment was too. He tried to push that back. He shouldn’t be embarrassed about wanting his own space, dammit!

“Harry,” Cisco finally said when he could breathe again. “I touch you _all the time_. Why are you freaking out about it now?”

“You do not and I am not,” Harry snapped immediately. He had the sudden urge to push his chair away and make more room between them, but bit back on it. “And I just don’t like it. So stop.”

“Yeah, I don’t believe that for one minute,” Cisco said, a smile still pulling at the corner of his mouth.

He looked far too amused to Harry, who just frowned all the harder for it. “Why not?”

“Because you’re like a fucking _cat_ , Harry!” Cisco exclaimed, and suddenly Harry just knew he didn’t want to hear the rest of this. “You snap and snarl about your personal bubble or whatever, but every time I touch you, you push up and practically beg for more! Sometimes I’m surprised I don’t hear you _purring_.”

“Purring,” Harry repeated numbly, his quick mind suddenly absolutely refusing to process what he was hearing. “That’s not… I don’t… You…”

Cisco started laughing again at Harry stumbling attempts at rebuttal, and all Harry could do was stare at him. This was so not the direction this conversation was supposed to go. It was supposed to start with Harry setting up his boundaries — just like that idiot therapist Jesse had made him see once had said — and end with Cisco _never touching him again_.

Harry must have remained quiet too long, because soon Cisco’s laughter trailed off and he stood there, gazing at Harry with a considering look in his eye. It made Harry feel suddenly very exposed in a way he wasn’t used to and really didn’t like. He’d only gone to see that therapist once for a reason after all.

“Harry, I’m going to do something you’re probably not going to want me to,” Cisco said after a long moment of contemplation. “Try not to savage me.”

Before Harry could say anything in response, Cisco stepped forward and folded his arms around Harry’s shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug. Harry immediately tensed up, too aware of every inch of his body touching Cisco’s. Cisco’s face was pressed up against his, warm breath tickling the short hairs around his ear.

Harry wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, but inch by inch, minute by minute, he could feel his muscles start to relax. It still felt like too much to have Cisco touching him like this, but it also felt _good_ in a way he really hadn’t expected. He realized that the last time someone had hugged him it had been Jesse, and that had been a very long time ago. Too long ago, apparently.

“See, not so bad, right?” Cisco asked, voice soft. Slowly, he pulled away until he was standing less than a foot away.

Harry instinctively rolled his eyes, but he didn’t feel the same annoyance as earlier. He kind of even missed the hug. Of course he couldn’t say that to Cisco, but he was pretty sure Cisco knew. Somehow, Cisco always knew what he was saying and what he needed, even when Harry himself wasn’t completely sure. That was certainly something else he hadn’t had in a very long time.

“Why?”

Cisco frowned a little at the admittedly rather vague question, but it wasn’t the annoyed kind of frown, it was the one where he was trying to figure out a problem. Harry was a little startled to realize that he could recognize that look, because before, he’d gone out of his way to not know anything about his coworkers. Then again, Cisco was different. Had always been different.

Finally, Cisco shrugged. “I like you, Harry, and I think you like me too.”

“Yes,” Harry said slowly, because as much as his immediately reaction was to disagree, deep down he knew it was true. He hadn’t come here to make friends, but somehow he’d done that and more with Cisco. “Now what?”

“Now what?” Cisco repeated, a grin growing on his face that had Harry’s stomach turning over in finally realized attraction. “Now we do something about it.”

They met in the middle, lips sliding together like it was the most natural thing in the world. Maybe it was and it had just taken this long for Harry to figure it out. He never had been very good at all that emotional intelligence stuff. Good thing he had Cisco for that now. It would free up brain cells for figuring out solutions to meta problems.

Harry’s lips were still tingling when they pulled apart, and he realized that somewhere along the way his hands had come up to hold Cisco’s hips. He thought for a moment about letting go, stepping back, putting some space between them. But it was just a fleeting thought that he dismissed almost immediately. This closeness wasn’t something to separate himself from, no matter how it made his heart beat uncertainty in his chest. Maybe that was a good thing after all, not something to avoid.

“So, uh, you wanna get out of here?” Cisco asked, and Harry looked down to see him biting his lip like he wasn’t sure what answer he’d get.

“Your place is nicer,” Harry said, because he couldn’t have Cisco looking like that. Plus it was true. Whatever they were going to do, he didn’t think either of them wanted it to happen on a camp bed. “Now are we going or what?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cisco laughed, that bright smile covering his face again. He grabbed Harry’s arm, pulling him toward the door. “How about we pick up some Big Belly Burger on the way? I have a feeling we’re gonna need it.”

Well, Harry certainly couldn’t say no to that.


End file.
